The Doom Funnel Rescue!
The Doom Funnel Rescue! is the 5th direct-to-video episode for 3-2-1 Penguins! Plot Some mail gets delivered to Grandmum's cottage. Jason challenges Michelle to a race to the mailbox. She thinks about this for a few seconds, and after she starts to run, agrees. Jason, running after her, tells her that it's no fair that she got a headstart. After Michelle gets the mail, Jason tells her he needs to hear something from the outside world or else he'll crack. Michelle ponders this for a while and checks which letter is his. Jason isn't patient enough for Michelle to find his letter, so he attempts to grab the stack of envelopes from her. Grandmum then comes in and asks what's going on. Jason answers that Michelle won't let him see the mail. Grandmum tells Michelle, "Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it's in your power to act." She tells her that it also applies for the mail. Michelle responds that she was going to give it to them. Grandmum gets the stack of envelopes and gives a card to Michelle and a letter to Jason. The envelope contains a picture of Trevor on the anti-gravity simulator. However, Michelle doesn't understand why a bunch of kids would wait in line just to get nauseous. Grandmum decides to have all of them read their mail over some prune trifle. In Grandmum's cottage, Jason reads his letter from Trevor. The letter contains Trevor giving details about how he learned about space storms and how he and Jason went to Astroland to ride the Twister twenty-eight times in a row. Trevor concludes his letter by saying how he wished Jason was with him and tells Jason to write to him and tell him all the fun things he's doing. After he reads his letter, Jason lies down on the sofa doing nothing. Michelle informs Grandmum that the sink is leaking. Grandmum gets some duct tape and says to Jason that it was nice of Trevor to write to him and that he probably misses him. She advises him to write him back to tell him what he's been doing. Michelle agrees with Grandmum and gives Jason suggestions on what to include in his letter, like the paperclip chain he made, helping Grandmum put on her hair net, and that morning when they ran out of toast. Jason brushed Grandmum's advice off, thinking that Trevor is having too much fun to even consider reading any letters from him. Grandmum tells Jason that Trevor might be a little homesick and hearing from him might make him feel better. Jason decides to go upstairs with a plate of cookies. Grandmum hopes he will do the right thing. Upstairs in the attic, Jason looks over his box of collections. He is about to grab a cookie when he notices that some cookies have gone missing. He sees a trail of crumbs leading towards a cardboard box. Pretending to be Captain Manolo, he sneaks up to the box following the trail and moves the box to reveal a small grey mouse eating a cookie. Later on, he builds a home for the mouse he named Preston. He offers to show him his treasure box. He shows Preston various things like a coil, a decoder ring, and a smash penny. Michelle walks up to the attic and asks who Jason is talking to. Jason immediately hides Preston in his shirt. He asks Michelle why she doesn't play with her doll. Michelle answers that maybe she doesn't want to, and asks Jason why he doesn't answer Trevor's letter as she pokes him where he hid Preston. She hears a squeak. Jason then reveals Preston to her. Michelle introduces her doll, Miss Pretty-Pretty, to Preston and says Preston is a new guest for her tea party. Jason objects to this, saying that Preston is a man's mouse. Michelle states her hope to expose Preston to a little culture. Jason says that Preston doesn't need culture, he needs space adventure. Michelle replies that if Preston changes his mind, she'll be hosting a tea party. With Preston in the Penguin's ship, Jason counts down to blastoff. However, Preston gets frightened and hops out of the ship. The ship comes to life and Preston lands on the ship's lid. Zidgel exclaims that Preston is on the lid. Midgel rolls his eyes and opens the lid, throwing Preston off the ship. Jason turns to look for him. Zidgel orders Jason to report for duty. Jason tells Zidgel to give him a minute because he needs to find Preston. Zidgel replies that there's no time, they have an urgent mission. He orders Fidgel to galeezel him. As Jason is looking for Preston, he gets galeezeled and the ship flies off towards their next mission. While the ship is flying in space, Zidgel says to Jason that their mission is a highly classified one. He asks Kevin to activate a slideshow. Zidgel presents some of his baby pictures to Jason. Confused, Jason asks about the mission. Fidgel explains that they are heading for Space Colony Doublewide due to being doom funnel season there. And their cargo is emergency duct tape. The duct tape is for lashing space colony modules together to prevent them bashing against each other in high winds until they're completely smashed. If they don't arrive in time, the population is doomed. Jason, Midgel, and Kevin gasp in horror. Zidgel, on the other, just wants to show more of his baby pictures. Midgel looks at the gas dial and notices that it's nearly empty. Midgel says to Zidgel that he told him he prepared everything for the mission. Zidgel replies that he did, and he stored it all in his bag. Midgel tells Zidgel that he said he got gas. Zidgel says that he did, but he's feeling much better now. Midgel yells that he meant rocket fuel. Jason suggests that it would be a good idea to get some more fuel before they run out. Zidgel agrees with his suggestion. Fidgel sees a nearby gas station on a map. Midgel turns the ship and heads towards it. Fidgel gets a pair of binoculars and sees another gas station where gas is two cents cheaper. Midgel changes the ships course. Fidgel investigates the gas station further, and notices a giant tank with various warning signs pasted on it. Fidgel tries to tell the captain about this. Zidgel goes to see the tank for himself. When Fidgel tries to tell Midgel about the tank, he panics. Zidgel tells Fidgel to pipe down as he sees the tank with the binoculars the wrong way. He thinks the tank is miles away until Fidgel flips the binoculars around and he too starts panicking. Midgel ignores Jason, Fidgel, and Zidgel panicking as he drives the ship to the gas station. Just as the fuel runs out, the ship lands in the gas station. Kevin walks out of the ship as Zidgel tells him what kind of snacks he should buy. After the ship is fueled up, Kevin returns to the ship and gives the rest of the crew their snacks. Kevin then puts his hand in the bag and takes out a round robot named B.I.N.G. Jason presses the button to activate it. The flash from the activation causes Kevin to shield his eyes from the brightness. B.I.N.G. imitates his actions. Fidgel notices that B.I.N.G. has imprinted on Kevin's behavior, just how a newly hatched duckling does with the first creature it sees. Later, Kevin introduces B.I.N.G. to Midgel, telling him that he has fifteen buttons. Midgel explains what his buttons do, but Kevin butts in and points to the button that makes the ship go super fast. B.I.N.G. presses it even when Midgel tells him not to. The ship starts flying at a high speed until Midgel tells him to stop. When the ship stops, Midgel comments on how fast they traveled. B.I.N.G. then switches some of the buttons on the place where Fidgel sometimes works. Fidgel compliments B.I.N.G.'s ability. Kevin introduces B.I.N.G. to Jason, who doesn't have any buttons, unless his belly button counts. Zidgel, who has a very big button, is introduced to B.I.N.G. Kevin asks if B.I.N.G. can help him with any captain problems he has. Zidgel ponders for a moment, then B.I.N.G. styles his hair in three different styles before going back to the original one. Jason, Fidgel, and Kevin only like the original hairstyle. After a while, Jason and Kevin use B.I.N.G. as a basketball. B.I.N.G. shoots himself into the basketball net, earning Jason a slam dunk. Zidgel and Midgel talk about how B.I.N.G. is now Kevin's best friend. Fidgel informs Zidgel that they're reaching Space Colony Doublewide. Zidgel is about to order his crew to buckle up for landing when Fidgel's instruments are indicating a doom funnel with a force 200. Zidgel exclaims that a doom funnel that powerful happens only once every three gazillion years, and not until June. Midgel points to the doom funnel at the space colony. Fidgel exclaims that the Doublewideans will never survive a doom funnel that large. At first, it looks like the Double Wideains are doomed, but upon taking a closer look, they've evacuated the colony when they saw the doom funnel. Zidgel gets the idea to do the same thing and orders Midgel to leave the colony. As Midgel turns the ship around, Fidgel picks up a voice signal. Zidgel assumes it's a telemarketer and tells the signal that he's not buying anything as he turns off the signal. Fidgel tells him that it's probably a distress call from one of the trailers. Midgel points out that everyone in the colony evacuated. The signal is revealed to be Professor Wordsworth from the Space Colony Doublewide. Fidgel declares that they're coming to rescue him. Midgel turns the ship back to the colony to go to the signal's source. Professor Wordsworth tells them not to worry because he decided to stay and study this doom funnel. However, his fellow Doublewideans moved to Colony Trailer Hedge. They'll be fine unless the doom funnel turns east. Fidgel urges Professor Wordsworth to come aboard the ship. The professor replies that at least he gets to study and learn to control these doom funnels. Jason asks if they should bring Professor Wordsworth on board. Fidgel convinces Professor Wordsworth to come aboard by telling him that his instruments have been upgraded. The professor comes on board the ship. The doom funnel catches hold of the ship, and Midgel can't control it for very long. Professor Wordsworth says that they can't just leave. Midgel attempts to escape the doom funnel. Zidgel orders Fidgel to deploy deflector shields. The doom funnel removes the shields and Midgel throws everything he's got at the doom funnel. When that doesn't work, Midgel exclaims that they're done for. Zidgel reassures him that it could have been worse. However, the doom funnel starts flinging pink flamingos at the ship. Professor Wordsworth begs to be taken back to his trailer so that he can save his home. The doom funnel then starts to head east where the Doublewideans are. Zidgel orders Midgel to leave, but Jason repeats the Bible verse that Grandmum quoted to him and says that they got B.I.N.G. Kevin asks B.I.N.G. if he can find a way to save an entire civilization. When B.I.N.G. exits the ship with a large tube of duct tape, he grabs a small ball and wraps a lot of duct tape around it. He throws the duct tape ball into the doom funnel, clogging it up and making it disappear. Jason, the Penguins, and the professor cheer for B.I.N.G. Fidgel and Professor Wordsworth realize the way to solve the doom funnel problem. After Zidgel announces that they will head on home, Professor Wordsworth sadly looks at what remained of his home. Kevin notices this and tells B.I.N.G. that he's going to have to leave him with the professor. Since those doom funnels will keep coming back, he's the only one who can help. Kevin presses the button that first activated B.I.N.G. The flash blinds the professor. Fidgel notices that B.I.N.G. is now imprinted on Professor Wordsworth. Professor Wordsworth and B.I.N.G. return to the colony to clean it up a little bit. Zidgel notices that B.I.N.G. is gone. Jason tells him that Kevin realized that it was wrong to keep B.I.N.G. to himself when he had the chance to do good for the professor and the colony. Zidgel comments that B.I.N.G. made a great hair stylist. He then orders Midgel to head for home. In his captain's log, Zidgel recaps how Jason's advice helped B.I.N.G. get a new job and how the professor and his colony were saved. Back at Grandmum's cottage, Jason looks for Preston. He hears Michelle's voice in their bedroom and sees Michelle hosting a tea party and Preston wearing a wedding dress. Later on, Jason writes to Trevor. He ends his letter by saying he found a mouse he named Preston and quoting what Midgel said about a best friend. He puts a smash penny in the envelope for Preston in case he's homesick. That night, Michelle asks God to bless Grandmum and to keep her parents safe on their trip. Jason thanks Him for teaching him the importance of doing good deeds for others whenever he has the chance. He asks Him to watch over Preston, who he says is a great mouse even though he ate the bridal bouquet. Quotes :I meant rocket fuel! - Midgel Home media It was released August 25th, 1998 by Lyrick Studios on VHS, December 21st, 2002 by Chordant Distribution Group on DVD and VHS, July 1st, 2003 by Warner Home Video on DVD and VHS, February 10th, 2004 by Warner Home Video on DVD and VHS. Fun Facts Explanations *A corker is a astonishing person or thing. *A cloaking device is a fictional stealth technology that makes things invisible. *Crow's feet are wrinkles on the corner of eye. *Laugh lines are facial features that are the two sking folds that run from each side of the nose to the corners of the mouth. Trivia *This was the first episode for several things: **The first and only direct-to-home video where all of the Penguins stay in the ship the whole mission. ** The first episode Wild Bill Quasar appears in. ** The first episode where any of the penguins mentioned about their past, as well as mention of their family. * Mike Nawocki read the interactive storybook version on Moon Menace on Planet Tell-a-Lie! * One of the hairstyles that Zidgel gets is Grandmum's hairstyle. Remarks *Jason's glasses stick on his head when he turned upside down. Inside References *Few references in the first episode were made here: **The crew gasping towards the horror music is similar when they discover what's going to happen to Wait-Your-Turn. **Zidgel mentioned to Midgel about going to hyper-drive, which they later did thanks to BING. *Zidgel called Preston "40 foot rodent", something he said in Jason's last adventure. Real World References *Midgel mentions the ship must have gone Warp 10, a warp factor that's considered unsafe in the Star Trek universe. *The alarm that goes off when the ship encounters a doom funnel is identical to the red alert sound from Star Trek. 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